Editor’s pickTechnology transforming the industry

02-11-2018
Technology,transforming,industry

Solving rural producers’ challenges and improving productivity through technology will be key themes at next year’s MobileTECH 2019. Now in its 7th year, MobileTECH will once again bring together the leaders, tech developers, industry corporates and early adopters to Rotoura, New Zealand.

“While we have seen some great advances in sensors and robotics, it’s the software that’s making big strides,” said Ken Wilson, programme manager for MobileTECH 2019.

A recent IDC study, commissioned by Microsoft, showed that digital products and services will make up 55 per cent of New Zealand’s GDP by 2021. Over this time, digital transformation will be providing better margins for companies and its estimated will have added over NZ$10 billion (US$6.54 billion) to New Zealand’s national GDP.

What’s striking is the speed and widespread impact of change, forcing many traditional companies to evolve with it. Digital technologies leading this charge include innovations like mobility, cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence.

This comes off the back of a report last year by the Massey Business School, which examined the impact of cloud computing and other disruptive technologies.

Globally, there are 2.5 quintillion bytes of data created every day. Over 90 per cent of the world’s data has been created within the last two years. Technologies like IoT will dramatically increase these numbers. The problem is no longer about how to collect data – it’s how to get the right answers at the right time for the right purpose.

Worksites are becoming more connected than ever and data is being rapidly accumulating. Remote sensors are now in fields, GPS units track vehicles, UAVs and satellites provide imagery data and electronic tagging optimises distribution. The primary sector now has more data points than can be comprehended. The demand is now not just technology, but how to get the right analysis, recommendations and application.

“Tech developers see software advances and hands-on collaboration with local producers as the key ingredients going forward,” said Wilson. “With the central theme for MobileTECH 2019 being ‘data with purpose’, we will be highlighting a number of case studies where new tools are created alongside the grower or forestry manager.”

MobileTECH 2019 is set to run from the 3rd to the 4th of April 2019 in Rotorua.